KR20150016152A - Method and device for proximity discovery among ues - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for proximity discovery among terminals (UE). The method includes the steps of: registering the UE on a device-to-device (DTD) server and obtaining DTD default resources from a received registration response. In case the UE is a discovered user and is not inside a coverage, the UE transmits a discovery message by using the DTD default resources. In case the UE is a discovering user, the UE receives the discovery message from the DTD default resources. Also, the present invention provides an apparatus for proximity discovery among terminals (UE). When the technical solving method of the present invention is used, the present invention can support a discovering service and a discovered service in case the UE is inside the coverage, but can also support the same services in case the UE is not inside the coverage.

Description

[0001] METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PROXIMITY DISCOVERY AMONG UES [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless communication technology, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for proximity discovery between user equipments (UEs).

Modern mobile communication tends to provide more and more diverse services for users. Currently, the US Public Safety Department is choosing LTE networks as the primary communications network for public safety communications services. The inter-UE proximity-based service is an important part of the public safety communication demand, including proximity discovery between UEs and close communication between UEs. As a basis for direct communication between UEs, proximity discovery between UEs can determine whether other friend users are present around the user and allow the user to perform the next operation. In the field of public safety, close proximity discovery between UEs provides safety as a confidential means as well as allowing members of the public safety executive sector to easily command work and cooperate with each other in certain field environments. Also, in the commercial sector, proximity discovery between UEs can be flexibly applied. Mutual discovery among neighboring users with the same interests, or rapid formation of community networks such as adjacent promotions such as commercial advertisements.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a basic method for proximity discovery between UEs.

A UE (UE) 101 is a terminal device that supports proximity-based services having proximity discovery capabilities and discovery capabilities.

The evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) 102 provides access to the interface of the wireless network that is capable of providing resource allocation control while the proximity discovery service is being performed at the UE (UE) 101 And a macro base station (eNodeB) that provides a wireless access network.

The mobile management entity (MME) 103 may support service request validation while proximity based services are being performed at the terminal (UE) 101, may provide a list of identities that are allowed to be found, UTRAN 102 that can allocate an identifier that can be assigned to the UE 101 and perform resource allocation control at the UE 101. The security information of the UE, Session context, and mobile context.

The home subscriber server (HSS) 104 includes not only the subscription information of the service that the user can access, but also the current location of the UE, the address of the service node, user security information, Which is a subsystem of the UE, which serves to store user information.

The proximity-based service subscriber server (PSS) 105 stores context information and security information of the proximity-based service for the user, as well as identifiers that are currently being used by proximity-based service users, It plays a role. The PSS may be an independent node, or it may be located with the HSS or MME.

The method for proximity discovery between UEs can be recognized as part of a proximity based service that can be provided to the UE or user. In a proximity-based service, the readable proximity-based service identifier may be configured as a unique identifier for the UE or user. Specifically, if a proximity-based service is provided for the UE, the proximity-based service identifier may be configured for the UE as the unique identifier of the UE in the network. If a proximity-based service is provided for the UE, the proximity-based service identifier may be configured for the user as the unique identifier of the user.

In a method for proximity discovery between UEs in connection with the present invention, the configuration of the found identifiers for the UE is to identify the UE in the process of proximity discovery between UEs. For the discovered identifier of the UE, it is allowed to directly adopt the proximity-based service identifier or to select the user application identifier of the application used to invoke the proximity-based service. Of course, in terms of security, it is also acceptable to configure for the UE a proximity-based service identifier or a user application identifier and a different found identifier.

Figure 2 is a flow diagram of an existing method for proximity discovery between UEs based on the structure shown in Figure 1, including the following steps.

Step 201: The first UE activates the discovered function to initiate the registration process for the Device-to-Device (DTD) server and obtain the presentation code and DTD identifier of the first UE. In addition, the first UE can additionally obtain the DTD identifier and group identifiers of other UEs.

The DTD identifier of the UE is configured by a DTD server which can take various forms. For example, the DTD identifier may be a globally unique identifier, or an identifier having a correspondence relationship with a user identifier of 3GPP, or an identifier identical to a user identifier of 3GPP.

The representation code of the UE is an identifier of the UE that is found to identify the UE itself in the broadcast signal, which may be the same or different from the DTD identifier of the UE.

The identifiers of other UEs, in the example, may be the identifiers of the second UE.

The group identifier is used to identify the group to which the first UE and the second UE belong.

The first UE activates the broadcast mode to be discovered, and the user can have two modes: the discovery mode and the mode to be discovered. The mode that is found means that the user broadcasts the discovery signals. The discovery mode means that the user receives discovery signals broadcast by other users and, if necessary, sends a message of "proximity indication" to the discovered user.

In Fig. 2, the present invention explains in detail an example in which the first UE activates the discovered mode and the second UE activates the discovery mode.

The DTD server sets the identifier to be found of the first UE. The found identifiers are used to identify the first UE in the proximity discovery process between UEs. The found identifier may be a fixed identifier or a temporary identifier. The discovery signal broadcast by the discovered user may include an identifier to be found.

Step 202: The first UE broadcasts a message found within a range found according to resources used for DTD discovery, which is configured by the network.

The resources configured by the network may include, but are not limited to, frequency points, time slots, frames, reuse modes and power.

The UE may change the range found by adjusting the transmit power and other radio parameters.

The broadcast content may include one or more of the following messages: a DTD identifier of the discovered UE, i.e. the DTD identifier of the first UE; The representation code of the found UE, i.e. the representation code of the first UE; The DTD identifier of the discovering UE, in the example, the DTD identifier of the second UE; And group identifiers.

Step 203: The second UE activates the discovering function, initiating the registration process for the DTD server, obtaining the identifier to be found, the group identifier, and other information of the first UE to be found. After registration, the second UE obtains the resources used by the network from the serving base station for DTD discovery.

Step 204: The second UE activates the discovery monitoring mode to monitor the broadcast at the proximity of the second UE to obtain the found identifier of the broadcast.

According to the found identifier of the first UE in the monitored broadcast of the first UE, the second UE can confirm that the first UE is the UE that the second UE desires to discover. Alternatively, if the broadcast content of the first UE includes an identifier of the second UE, it means that the first UE desires to find whether or not the second UE is adjacent. The second UE may send a response message to the first UE indicating that the second UE is close to the first UE, and may receive the signaling broadcast by the first UE.

The existing process of proximity discovery between UEs has the following disadvantages.

1) At present, the resources used for DTD discovery are configured through the base station. If it is out of coverage, the user can not obtain the resources used for DTD discovery.

2) Situations where the discovering user or discovered user is not in coverage are not currently considered.

3) The discovering user needs to receive and analyze the resources used to discover the DTDs configured by the network. However, in most cases, there is no discovery signal aimed at the discovering user, which may be a source of energy waste from the discovery of the user.

4) The found user may be out of coverage of the base station and therefore can not receive resources that can be used by proximity discovery broadcast by the base station or transmit a discovery signal.

5) The discovering user may not be able to receive the signal transmitted by the discovered user because it may be out of coverage of the base station and can not receive resources that can be used by proximity detection broadcast by the base station.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for proximity discovery between UEs that not only supports the services discovered and found when the UE is in coverage but also supports the same services even when the UE is out of coverage .

The invention discloses a method for proximity discovery between terminals (UEs) comprising the following steps:

Registering with the device-to-device (DTD) server using the UE, and obtaining DTD default resources from the received registration response;

Transmitting the discovery message using the DTD default resources using the UE if the UE is a user to be discovered and is not in coverage; And

If the UE is a user to discover, receiving a discovery message at the DTD default resources using the UE.

Preferably, the method further comprises the steps of:

Broadcasting the discovery message using resources used for DTD discovery configured by the network using the UE when the UE is a user to be discovered and is in coverage;

Terminating the discovery process when a corresponding response message is received within a specified period; And

If the corresponding response message is not received within the specified time period, transmitting the discovery message using the DTD default resources using the UE.

Preferably, if the UE is a user to be discovered and is in coverage, the method further comprises the steps of:

Broadcasting the discovery message using resources used for DTD discovery and DTD default resources configured by the network using the UE.

Preferably, if the UE is a user to be discovered and is in coverage, the method further comprises the steps of:

Sending a UE discovery request to the network to indicate a desire to discover a second UE using the UE; And

Transmitting the discovery message using the DTD default resources using the UE if the UE receives indication information from the network that the second UE is out of coverage;

Preferably, if the UE is a found user and is in coverage, the method further comprises the steps of:

Using the UE, receiving the discovery message from the resources used for DTD discovery and the DTD default resources configured by the network.

Preferably, if the UE is a user to discover and is out of coverage, the method further comprises the steps of:

Using the UE, receiving a discovery message at the DTD default resources.

Preferably, if the UE is a discovering user and the UE receives the discovery message, the method further comprises the following steps:

If the received discovery message is an identifier of the UE or an identifier of a group to which the UE belongs, transmitting a response message to another UE transmitting the received discovery message.

The invention discloses an apparatus comprising a registration module and a discovery module;

The registration module registers with the device-to-device (DTD) server and is used to obtain DTD default resources from the received registration response;

The discovery module is used to send a discovery message using DTD default resources if the device is a user to be discovered and not in coverage;

The discovery module is used to receive the discovery message at the DTD default resources if the device is the user to discover.

It is to be appreciated from the technical solution that the technical solution for UE-to-UE discovery provided by the present invention allows the UE to send discovery messages using DTD default resources for other UEs out of coverage. The invention does so by configuring DTD default resources for the UE if the UE is the user to be discovered and is not in coverage. If the UE is a user to discover, the UE can receive discovery messages sent from other UEs out of coverage at the DTD default resources.

Thus, the present invention not only supports the discovered and found services when the UE is in coverage, but also supports the same services even when the UE is not in coverage. In addition, the present invention solves the problem of power consumption of the user to be discovered and saves system resources. The present invention provides a flexible solution to proximity discovery services, which can provide diversified network experiences for users and can meet specific needs for communication services in the field of public safety and social networking.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an existing method for proximity discovery between UEs.
2 is a flow diagram of an existing method for proximity discovery between UEs based on the structure shown in FIG.
3 is a schematic diagram of the network configuration of the DTD default resources of the present invention in the DTD service registration process.
4 is a schematic diagram of an operation procedure of a UE to be discovered of the present invention.
Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the discovering UE (discovering UE) operation of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart of a method for proximity discovery between UEs according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart of a method for proximity discovery between UEs according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
8 is a schematic view of the structure of a preferred apparatus of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG.

A method for a network that configures DTD default resources during DTD service registration

3 is a schematic diagram of a method for inter-UE proximity discovery of the present invention including the following steps.

Step 301: The UE registers with the DTD server.

In this step, the UE may transmit a registration request message with DTD coverage, which includes information of the UE capability, such as the UE's identifier, and the ability to discover and discover.

Step 302: The UE receives the registration response and obtains DTD default resources from the registration response.

In addition to the DTD identifier, the expression code, the group identifier, and other information of the UE, the registration response further includes DTD default resources. Subsequently, a user out of coverage can broadcast the discovery message using DTD default resources. A user in or out of coverage needs to monitor the discovery message at the DTD default resources.

Step 303: If the UE is the user to be discovered and is not in coverage, the UE may transmit the discovery message using the DTD default resources.

Step 304: If the UE is the user to discover, the UE may monitor the broadcast message at the DTD default resources to find the discovery message sent by other users.

After registration, if the UE is in coverage, the UE may receive a broadcast message from the base station. The base station may configure the resources used for DTD discovery by the UEs within the coverage. Other resources may be configured for other base stations. Through the interface X2, the base station can know resources used for DTD discovery configured for that neighbor base station.

It is assumed that the UE is a user to be found by the UE and is configured with DTD default resources and a DTD identifier after completion of DTD service registration using the method shown in FIG. At this time, as a discovered UE, the UE needs to perform the first operation and the second operation shown in Fig. 4 by the configured DTD default resources. The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to a schematic diagram of the inventive UE operational process shown in FIG.

As shown in Fig. 4, the first operation includes the following steps.

Step 401: The first UE wants to find another user, i.e. a second UE, in coverage, or if the first UE finds a nearby user in the same group. The first UE sends a message to the network requesting initiation of DTD discovery, the network comprising a base station, an MME, an SGW, and a DTD server, the message comprising an RRC message, an NAS message, or an application- layer message. It is also possible to skip this step and execute step 402 immediately.

Step 402: The base station transmits resources used for DTD discovery to the first UE through a broadcast channel.

In step 403, the first UE transmits a discovery message using resources configured in step 402, and the message includes an identifier of the first UE. The identifier includes an identifier, a group identifier, And may further include information.

Step 404: The second UE or another UE receives the discovery message broadcast by the first UE and determines whether a response message needs to be transmitted to the first UE. If necessary, the second UE or another UE will send a response message. After receiving the response message, the first UE may determine whether other UEs are nearby and can communicate with the first UE. If no response message is received within a certain period of time, the discovery process will end.

If the second UE or another UE is not in coverage, the second UE or another UE will not be able to receive the resources used for DTD discover broadcast by the base station. Thus, it can not perform monitoring on resources, can not receive the discovery message sent by the first UE, or can not send a response message to the first UE. However, the first UE is unclear as to whether other UEs are in coverage. If a response message is not received from another UE, the first UE may determine that there is no adjacent UE, which may be a false judgment. Therefore, in order to allow the UE to make a correct judgment in all situations, the present invention proposes a situation in which the first UE can perform the second operation simultaneously with or after the first operation.

As shown in Fig. 4, the second operation includes the following steps.

Step 405: The first UE broadcasts a discovery message using DTD default resources.

Step 406: The first UE receives a response from another UE or a second UE, and finds whether a UE or a second UE in the same group is adjacent. Thereafter, the process ends.

Thus, the process of the method shown in Fig. 4 is completed.

It is assumed that the UE is configured as a user who finds the UE itself and DTD default resources and a DTD identifier after completion of DTD service registration using the method shown in FIG. At this time, as a discovering UE, the UE needs to perform the first operation and the second operation shown in FIG. 5 by the configured DTD default resources. Here, for the first operation, the UE needs to monitor whether there is a discovery message for the UE itself using the DTD default resources. For a second operation, the UE needs to monitor whether there is a discovery message for the UE itself using the resources used for DTD discovery, which is configured by the base station, Or < / RTI > The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to a schematic diagram of the inventive UE operating procedure shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the first process of the discovering UE operation procedure includes the following steps.

Step 501: The UE receives a broadcast message from the DTD default resources.

Step 502: When receiving the discovery message including the identifier of the UE or the identifier of the group to which the UE belongs, the UE transmits a response message to another UE transmitting the discovery message.

As shown in FIG. 5, the second process of the discovering UE operation procedure includes the following steps.

Step 503: The UE receives a message from the network notifying that the UE needs to receive a broadcast message of the DTD, the network comprising a base station, an MME, an SGW, and a DTD server, Message, an NAS message, or an application-layer message. It is also possible to skip step 503 and immediately execute step 504. [

Step 504: The base station notifies the UE of resources used for DTD discovery in the form of a broadcast message.

Step 505: The UE receives a broadcast message from neighboring other UEs in the resources used for DTD discovery, and if necessary, the UE can transmit a response message to another UE transmitting the broadcast message.

The technical solution of the present invention is further illustrated through the following two preferred embodiments as follows.

Example  One

In Embodiment 1, the discovering UE is out of coverage, and the UE found is described in detail using the example in the coverage. 6 is a flowchart of a method for proximity discovery between UEs according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 6, UE1 is the UE to be discovered and UE2 is the UE to discover. The method includes the following steps.

Step 601: The UE 1 transmits a registration request message for the DTD service to the DTD server. Here, the registration request message includes the UE capability information such as the identifier of the UE, and the ability to discover and to discover it.

Step 602: UE1 receives a registration response message for the DTD service from the DTD server and obtains a DTD default resource configuration from the response message.

The registration response message for the DTD service includes a DTD identifier, an expression code, a group identifier, and other information of the UE, and further comprises a DTD default resource configuration. Subsequently, the user outside of coverage can broadcast the discovery message by DTD default resources; Users in or out of coverage need to monitor resources.

UE2 also executes the registration procedures in steps 601 and 602. [

Step 603: The base station transmits resources used for DTD discovery to a plurality of UEs in the form of a broadcast message. Because UE2 is not in coverage, UE2 will not receive a message broadcast by the base station.

Step 604: Since UE1 wants to discover UE2, UE1 sends a UE discovery request to the network, and this UE discovery request will be transmitted to the DTD server through the base station.

Step 605: Through the 3GPP network node, the DTD server knows that UE2 is out of coverage and sends a message to UE1 containing information indicating that UE2 is not in coverage.

Step 606: The UE 1 transmits the discovery message using the DTD default resources.

Step 607: UE2 not in coverage monitors the discovery message at the DTD default resources.

Step 608: After receiving the discovery message transmitted by UE1, UE2 transmits a response message to UE1, indicating that UE2 is close to UE1.

Example  2

In Embodiment 2, the present invention is described in detail using an example in which the discovering UE is in coverage and the UE found is not in coverage. 7 is a flow chart of a method for proximity discovery between UEs according to embodiment 2 of the present invention. In Fig. 7, UE1 is the UE to be discovered, and UE2 is the UE to discover. The method includes the following steps.

Step 701: The UE 1 sends a registration request message for the DTD service to the DTD server, and the registration request message includes UE capability information such as an identifier of the UE, and the ability to discover and discover the capability.

Step 702: UE1 receives a registration response message for the DTD service from the DTD server and obtains the DTD default resource configuration from the response message.

The registration response message for the DTD service includes a DTD identifier, an expression code, a group identifier, and other information of the UE, and further comprises a DTD default resource configuration. Subsequently, the user outside of coverage can broadcast the discovery message by DTD default resources; Users in or out of coverage need to monitor resources.

UE2 also executes the registration procedure in steps 701 and 702. [

Step 703: The base station transmits resources used for DTD discovery to a plurality of UEs in the form of a broadcast message. Because UE1 is not in coverage, UE1 will not receive a message broadcast by the base station.

Step 704: Since the UE 1 intends to discover the UE 2, it transmits the discovery message using the DTD default resources.

Step 705: The UE 2 monitors the discovery message in the broadcast resources and DTD default resources used by the discovery message.

Step 706: After receiving the discovery message transmitted by UE1, UE2 transmits a response message to UE1, indicating that UE2 is close to UE1.

The present invention further provides an apparatus as shown in Fig. 8 corresponding to the above method, wherein the apparatus comprises a registration module and a discovery module.

The registration module is used to register with the DTD server and obtain DTD default resources from the received registration response.

The discovery module is used to send the discovery message using the DTD default resources if the device is the user to be discovered and is not in coverage. If the device is a discovered user, the discovery module is used to receive the discovery message at the DTD default resources.

The technical solution to the inter-UE proximity discovery provided by the present invention is to configure the DTD default resources for the UE if the UE is the user to be discovered and not within the coverage to allow the UE to set the DTD default resource So that discovery messages can be transmitted. If the UE is a user to discover, the UE may receive discovery messages sent by other UEs out of coverage at the DTD default resources. Thus, the UE is able to obtain the resources used for DTD discovery, regardless of whether the UE is in coverage, the problem of not being able to obtain the resources used for DTD discovery if the UE is not in coverage, Lt; / RTI > The present invention proposes a complete solution and other aspects in network discovery. The present invention provides a flexible solution to proximity discovery services, which can provide diversified network experiences for users and can meet specific needs for communication services in the public safety and social networking arena.

The above description is not a limitation of the present invention, but merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Any variation, equivalent substitution or improvement within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

101: UE 102: E-UTRAN
103: MME 104: HSS
105: PSS

Claims (8)

A method for a user terminal (UE) to perform proximity discovery of another UE,
Registering with a device-to-device (D2D) server;
Receiving a registration response comprising a D2D default resource from the device-to-device server;
Sending a discovery message on the DTD default resource to be discovered by another UE if the UE is not in coverage of the base station; And
Receiving a discovery message on the DTD default resource to discover another UE. The method according to claim 1,
Broadcasting the discovery message on a resource configured by the network and used for DTD discovery to discover another UE if the UE is in the coverage;
Terminating the discovery process if a response message corresponding to the broadcast discovery message is received within a designated period; And
If the response message is not received within the specified time period, sending the discovery message on the DTD default resource. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising broadcasting the discovery message on the resources and the DTD default resources used for DTD discovery configured by the network to be discovered by another UE if the UE is in the coverage . The method according to claim 1,
Sending a UE discovery request to the network to discover a second UE if the UE is in the coverage; And
Further comprising transmitting the discovery message using the DTD default resources when the UE receives indication from the network that the second UE is out of coverage. 3. The method of claim 2,
Further comprising receiving the discovery message on the resources and the DTD default resources configured by the network and used for DTD discovery to discover another UE if the UE is in the coverage. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising receiving the discovery message on the DTD default resource to discover another UE if the UE is out of coverage. 6. The method according to claim 1 or 5,
When the UE receives the discovery message, transmitting the response message to the UE that has transmitted the received discovery message if the received discovery message includes the identifier of the UE or the identifier of the group to which the UE belongs ≪ / RTI > 1. A UE performing proximity discovery with another user equipment (UE)
A registration module used to register with the device-to-device (DTD) server and obtain DTD default resources from the received registration response; And
To send a discovery message using the DTD default resources to be discovered by another UE if the UE is not in coverage of the base station and to use the discovery message to receive the discovery message at the DTD default resources to discover another UE Gt; UE < / RTI >

Images